During the 1990s, Dodge made a concerted push to improve their standing within the performance sector of the domestic market. Called to action by then Chrysler President, Bob Lutz, the Chrysler design team jumped headlong into early developmental efforts. These efforts would ultimately yield one of the most tenacious performance … Read more
OH CRAP! IT’S MR. TWO! This automotive supervillain has junk not in the front, not in the trunk, but in the rear-middle of its bodacious figure. It’s the Toyota MR2 mid-engined sports car, and it’s responsible for popularizing affordable, mid-engine enthusiast cars for those that want to get around a … Read more
A look back at the history of the U.S. domestic automotive producers reveals a time when quality levels dropped to an all-time low. That period encompassed the 1970s, when GM, Ford, Chrysler, and AMC, released dozens of small cars to keep customers from fleeing to foreign competitors, including Toyota, Honda, … Read more
Not every Mustang was a superstar. The Ford Mustang II is a bit of an odd bird when it comes to sports cars. Based on its brand name, it’s technically labeled a muscle car. However, its interior parts and lackluster engine make this classification dubious. While highly regarded in its … Read more
The Toyota Sequoia is a full-size SUV, based on the platform underpinning the Toyota Tundra pickup truck. This SUV competes in a narrow segment, one dominated by the Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, Ford Expedition and represented in later years by the Nissan Armada. Toyota released the Sequoia in 2001. That … Read more
The 1980s can be defined in one word: us. For that’s the decade when Americans began to cast off the memory of the Watergate scandal and the lost Vietnam War of the 1970s. Consumerism, especially materialism, was in vogue and global trade brought the first cars from Yugoslavia, Brazil and … Read more
It was during the 1970s when automakers from Japan began to find a market among the big American cars of that era. As Toyota, Honda and Datsun (later Nissan) products began to take hold, American car manufacturers responded by producing several smaller models to counter the overseas invasion. Unfortunately, many … Read more
Years before the Volkswagen (VW) Microbus was associated with hippies, free love and protests against the Vietnam War, it served as a basic people hauler. It was just the second Volkswagen model built, following the Beetle to the market in 1950. Although this vehicle disappeared from the US market in … Read more
In the 1980s General Motors produced a mid-engine, two-seat sports car and named it the Pontiac Fiero. Just as the Corvette elevated Chevrolet, GM hoped the Fiero would do likewise for Pontiac. Its five-year model run started off strong, but quality problems and declining interest eventually killed what is now … Read more
A casual look at the automotive landscape over the past half-century and you will see how the Japanese automakers have penetrated the US market to become the automotive powerhouses that they are known as today. From humble beginnings in the late 1950s to its market strength today, companies such as … Read more